Confinement transitions in half-space constrained Riesz gases

Abstract

We study a Riesz gas with interaction parameter $s \in (d-3,d)$ in an arbitrary spatial dimension $d$, confined to a half-space by a hard wall. We prove that the equilibrium measure exhibits a dichotomy according to the interaction range. For $s \in (d-2,d)$, corresponding to the weakly long-ranged regime, the equilibrium measure always retains a non-trivial bulk component and thus is never completely confined to the wall. In contrast, for $s \in (d-3,d-2]$, corresponding to the strongly long-ranged regime, a confinement transition occurs: there exists a critical wall position beyond which the equilibrium measure is supported entirely on the wall. Our theorem generalises recent results established for the Coulomb gas, corresponding to the case $s=d-2$.